History of Åbjøra

Olaf Bergersen from Vassbygda, just south of the county border with Bindal, was a user from 1919 to 1940. In his time, he ran a silver reef farm in Åbjøra and obtained much of the reef fodder by fishing in Åbjørvatnet. Both in his time and while Karl Magnus was on the farm, several orphaned boys were allowed to come to Åbjøra and found a home there. Karl Magnus had a large family, while Olaf and his wife Marie were childless.

Magne Fjerdingøy from Namsskogan was the user from 1941 to 1947, and Johan Westerfjell from 1948 to 1954 was the last user. Since then, the farm has been deserted and used only for household purposes during forestry work. Johan Westerfjell and his family moved to Namsskogan, and there has always seemed to be a lively connection between this Trøndelag village and the farms by Lake Åbjørvatnet. They were also part of a refugee route during the 1940 war

Åbjørgarden had seats about 4 kilometers further into the valley. It was nicely situated with a nice embankment down towards the river, which here flowed wide and calmly over a flat bottom of gravel and pebbles. The houses there are long gone, and the embankment has been planted with forest.

To survive on a farm like Åbjøra required careful planning. In winter, the ice on Lake Åbjørvatnet could be impassable for long periods, and the people on the farm were then almost completely cut off from the outside world. Also, all transport to and from the farm was very cumbersome, and it was important to be as self-sufficient as possible with food and other necessities. For heavier matters, such as flour, they had to ensure that they drove forward in good winter conditions. Otherwise, they also grew grain for their own use, which they ground on the farm’s mill.

But those who lived here led a free life, with rich, powerful nature all around them. It could be lonely, and maybe months passed between each time they saw other people. In winter, they could be visited by forest people who lived in forest cabins in the valley or by the lake, and by the log flutes in the spring. The Sami also visited when they moved with the reindeer herds between the interior and the coast. And for the farm’s men, there was an opportunity to take part in both forestry work and whistling. In the 1930s, Bindalsbruket ran a forest nursery in Åbjøra to meet local needs, with youth from the village as laborers. Then it could probably get quite lively at Åbjørgarden.

The old living room at Åbjøra is being maintained, but the rest of the houses are gone now. It is said that people who are afraid of the dark should not spend the night in this living room alone. – There are ghosts there, according to several people who have experienced it!

The Åelva was an important fluted waterway and has carried large quantities of timber on its back out to the fjord. It made it possible to carry out forestry around Åbjørvatnet and all the way to Oksdalen, and this has been one of the most important forest areas on Plahte’s Eiendommer. – Yes, all forestry in the entire Åbygda, from the border to the Urvoldvassdraget, was only possible with the Åelva and its tributaries for timber transport.

There were no dams to regulate the “whistling water” in the main waterway, and the whistling did not always proceed without problems. In several places with waterfalls and rapids, timber bonds could easily form, and they were both laborious and dangerous to tear down. One of the worst was probably what happened in the summer of 1937 when they got 3,000 m3 of timber in a single vase in Brattfossen, about a kilometer below Åbjørvatnet. It took many weeks of hard work for the flute team to solve the problem.

Timber from the area is now taken up by car at the lower end of the lake, but timber from the forests around the lake and from Åbjørdalen still has to be transported there. This old mode of transport thus does not quite end here. But the last whistle from Åbjørvatnet to the sea took place in 1972.

Today, it doesn’t take that many minutes by car from Åbygda to Åbjørvatnet. But those who want to try what access was like in the old days – before the road came in 1978 – can take the old footpath from Skarstad to Granbostad – “over Heia”, as they said. It is about a mile away in winding and hilly terrain, through forest and over heath and bog, and with a climb up to the highest point of approx. 250 meters. Here, it was not possible to drive without good winter conditions, so for most of the year the rickshaw had to be the means of transport. One can then wonder how Hans Kristensen was able to transport the large fishing boat from Granbostad to the sea in his time.

Far more remote than Åbjøra itself was the settler’s home from the late 1930s, Klarem, inside Oksdalen. To continue there from Granbostad, it was first a half-mile round trip over Lake Åbjørvatnet and then a 11/2-mile hike through forest and moorland. Along the way, one had to cross the river in Åbjørdalen twice, which could be difficult even when the water level was low. They usually spent two days each way when they had to go to the merchant at Terråk. But it is said that the young boys at Klarem could manage a shopping trip to Majavatn in one day. In that case, it had to be almost a cross-country race.

They broke up some arable land at Klarem and grew potatoes. They collected fodder for horses, two or three cows, and young animals on mountain pastures up to a mile from Klarem, and drove them home to winter pastures. In addition, they had their reindeer herd and preserved the Sami’s ancient knowledge of edible plants from forests and mountains. They had no shortage of food in the wilderness.

They had built a slatted log house for housing, but also had a large game they could live on. They had also built a barn, and in 1940 the family moved to Klarem and settled there.

I myself have fond memories of this settler’s home from the fine autumn weeks we spent doing timber flashing there in the early 1950s. We then lived in the log house that they made available to us. Peder Johnsen and his two daughters lived in the gamn; the rest of the family were probably in the mountains reindeer herding.

Peder was deeply religious, and every morning he held devotions. Then a peculiar high-pitched psalm rang out from the horn. He also used to give sermons – “edification” – around the farms. He saw God’s index finger behind everything that happened, and, for example, when reindeer went off course and killed him, he did not take any of the meat. – “What God had taken to punish should not be taken back.” He maintained strict discipline within the family, and at home only Sami was to be spoken. One of the sons said that he did not know a word of Norwegian when he started school.

Peder Johnsen was tall for a Sami, and was broad and powerful. In his youth, he was considered to be Åbygda’s strongest man, and that is saying no small thing in view of this hamlet’s many strong men of forest folk. While we lived at Klarem, he began to show signs of age. A wispy, wild hair and beard made him look like depictions of Old Testament prophets.

A mountain chief and his daughter. Peder Johnsen Westerfjell and Maina at Klarem, 1953.

Peder Johnsen Westerfjell was best known for his significant contributions to fish culture. Gustav Westerfjell, son of Peder Johnsen, has told about this great fish cultivation.

In Åbjørdalen, approx. 1/2 mile below Kalvkruvatn, there is a waterfall that prevents the ascent of fish, and the entire watercourse above was empty of fish. It started with Peder Johnsen taking some fish in the river below the waterfall and putting them out in pools above. Later he carried fish to the large lake below Klarem. It was something he did for fun, and he had little hope it would pay off. But the fish multiplied quickly, and after a few years they got trout of fine quality in the river and the lake.

Another Sámi, Nils Johan Kappfjell, then carried fish further up to Kalvkruvatn. When this release also succeeded beyond all expectations, Peder Johnsen continued to “populate” the other large lakes in stages, first Mellavatnet in 1921. In 1939, he and his son Paul carried fish to Ringvatnet and Oksdalsvatnet. One year during the war, a Sámi woman carried 12-13 fish to a small lake in the mountains above Mellavatnet. There were some very good fishing waters. They were later named after her, who carried fish there, and are today called Nilsinetjønnene.

They managed to keep the fact that there had been fish in these waters a secret for many years, but in the 1930s a pure gold fever raged in Bindal after discoveries made in Kolsvik, and sharpeners reached all around the mountains. Someone then discovered exceptionally large and beautiful fish in Kalvvatna, and soon there were rumors in the villages about trout weighing 4-5 kilos there.

At first, this did not lead to any large influx of anglers to these remote areas, but the rumors spread far and wide. In the 1950s, some people took to flying into Kalvvatna, and it probably also happened that they had rubber boats and yarn with. But fishing was unlikely to occur to such an extent that it would have any major negative impact on the stocks in these large lakes.